We'll start with the panel discussion on ethical issues for the media in the internet-social networking age. You'll not only hear from Texas Watchdog, but reporters from TheDallas Morning News, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and other media outlets, too.

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We'll show you how to ferret out conflicts of interest among our government officials and what you can do about it. And you'll also get a primer on public records and open meetings -- tips, pitfalls and trends in what governments officials are doing to keep folks in the dark.

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A list of bad jurors kept by prosecutors is not a public record, according to the state attorney general's office, a ruling that “flies in the face of open government,” according to Fort Worth Defense lawyer William Ray in the Star-Telegram.

Ray sought a list the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office keeps of jurors who have previously served and notes on why they would be unfit to serve again. Presumably, these jurors did not deliver a verdict favorable to the state.

According to the story:

"[Assistant Attorney General James Morris] cited a 1983 state open-records decision that 'disclosure of prosecutors' subjective comments about former jurors would tend to indicate state's possible strategy in future prosecutions and in doing so would compromise state's effectiveness in prosecuting criminal matters.'"

Ray last year got a list of jurors and their verdict histories from Tarrant County prosecutors. He found out about the “bad juror” list inadvertently and asked for it.

In the name of both discovery and open records, this list kept at the DA’s office in Tarrant should be open to the public, as it is kept in the name of the public on taxpayer time.

"The Austin American-Statesman had requested the travel vouchers in July 2007, seeking information about Perry's out-of-state trips in 2001 and the first half of 2007. Newspapers in San Antonio and Houston made similar requests a month later."

The staff attorney for public information at the court, Osler McCarthy, advised us of the likely reasons: Willett was a chief legal advisor to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott before his appointment to the bench in 2005. Willett’s name is on a number of open records decisions as part of Abbott’s staff regarding those decisions. Medina was chief counsel to Gov. Perry before being appointed to the court in 2004.

Neither was with their previous offices when the records request was filed.